Like Mother, Like Daughter
by Natalie Zephyr
Summary: Nessie POV: Bella Cullen comes home from a visit to Charlie and finds Nessie and Jacob -- gasp! -- kissing. Nessie learns some lessons about her family, her world, and most importantly, herself.


I was running as fast as I could, but still, it was not enough to escape her evil grasp. It was unfair that she had the full vampire speed and strength-being only half-vampire, I only got half-and it was even worse that she was my mom. And, to top it all off, she was mad. "Renesmee Carlie Cullen, I cannot believe you!" she spun me around by the collar of my yellow Juicy Couture sundress (thanks to Alice and Rosalie) and put her hands down firmly on my shoulders. "I come home from a visit to Charlie and I walk in on you and Jacob-" she took a deep, unnecessary breath-"kissing."  
I sighed. "God, Mom! Kissing isn't exactly new to me. I'm eighteen!" "You're six!" she retorted. "Technically, maybe. But I'm almost seven! Not to mention that physically and emotionally, I'm almost a legal adult!" "You've only been on the face of this Earth for six years, Renesmee-"  
"Do NOT call me Renesmee!" I stomped my foot, making a small dent in the floor of my family's cottage. "My name is Nessie! Renesmee is stupid and long and weird." My mother had a serious expression on her face-one I only saw when I was in serious trouble. "Renesmee is beautiful and unique, just like you. It's perfect."  
I turned away and slammed the door, locking it quickly. I did this to avoid the wrath of Isabella Marie Swan Cullen, my mother, when I said what I planned to say. "Jacob likes it." I knew that it wasn't much to say, but it would set her off and annoy her. She had always been opposed to calling me Nessie, muttering about sea monsters whenever someone called me by my nickname. And it only made it worse that I brought Jake into the picture-I knew that he and my mom had shared something special before I was born, but I didn't know exactly how special it was. Plus, I'm sure the memory of what my mother had caught me doing didn't bring back happy memories from her human past. But all I heard was silence from the other side of the door. I opened the door a tiny crack, just enough that I could see through. "...Mom?" But she was gone. I opened the door all the way, scanning the hallway. Nobody was there. I strained my ears to listen for any signs of movement nearby, but heard nothing. Oh, God. I hadn't meant to offend her, I just wanted to get under her skin a little. I was a freaking teenager, and it was natural for me to be a little... moody. If one could ever call any of my life natural, that is. I left the door open and walked across my room to sit at the white vanity Esme had made for me for my birthday. I stared into the mirror. My eyes were probably the only part of me that were normal. Chocolate brown. My father had always said that they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen, and that they were just like my mom's used to be. But I didn't see anything special about them. I wished I had eyes like my parents. They changed color and they were usually a pretty shade of golden-brown. I began to brush my hair. My only normal feature stared back at me from the mirror while I thought about what else was wrong with my life. I was freakishly tall for my natural age, but very short for my physical age. About 5'3 or 5'4. My hair was a mix of my grandfather's and my father's hair, which turned out to be a rusty-bronze color, which was just weird. It was naturally wavy and smooth, which could be pretty, but the color kind of set everything off.  
I was so pale, which only made my unusual hair stand out more. Most girls get freckles from the sun, but not me. No, I just get sparkles. I talked through the palms of my hands sometimes. I didn't even fit in with the people I lived with. They were all vampires, and I was only half of that.  
And to top it all off, I didn't get a choice in my destiny. I had been engaged practically since my birth-which was far from normal, as well-and I didn't get any say in it. What was this, the fourteenth century?! It's not that I didn't love Jacob with all my heart; he was the only one that I would ever want to be with. He was my soul mate, my other half. But I would have liked for me to have time to grow up, to be me, to find out who I was and who I wanted to be with. Instead, I was just told what to do, along with all the other rules in my life. Don't hunt animals out of season! Don't go out into the sunlight!  
Don't use your other way of communicating with humans that don't know about it!  
Don't eat your grandpa!  
I heard a knock on the door. I didn't reply. I wasn't in the mood to talk. I thought to my intruder instead. It wasn't like they were going to hear me, anyway. Go away. "I heard that." I whipped around, and saw my dad. Blushing, I lowered my head. Oh, yeah. The mind reading father. Just another thing completely not normal in my life. "I heard that, as well." Why the hell did I leave the door open? I guessed he'd heard that, too. A serious expression came over his face as he stepped toward me.  
He ran a hand through his already tousled bronze hair, then sat down on the bed. Extending his hand out next to him, he patted the bedspread two times, indicating for me to join him. "Dad, I don't really want to talk right now." But I rose from the vanity and walked over to sit next to him anyway. "You don't have to talk," he said gently. "Remember?" He tapped the side of his forehead with his index finger. "Or..." he grabbed by hand and held it to the side of his face. "You can just talk this way, and I can get the whole story a lot quicker." I sighed, surrendering. I get my emotions flow out through my palms, playing the memory of my little scene with my mom and my sadness over my difference to everyone else over in my head. He was watching it like a movie, and wincing when the scene of Jacob and I played. When the flashback was done, I lowered my head. "Ah," he said, and pulled me into his chest. "It's okay, Nessie. It's okay."  
"Thank you for calling me by my nickname," I whispered into his chest. I then realized that I was crying. "But it's not okay." Sniff. "She'll never forgive me." "She will," he promised, and kissed my forehead. "I know that she will. Your mother knew a lot about being different when she was growing up, too. She understands you probably more than anybody else." I looked up, confused. "Really? Why didn't she tell me this earlier?" "Well, maybe it's hard for her to talk about," he explained. "You didn't really want to talk about what was going on with you a minute ago. Maybe she felt the same way."  
"Wow." "Mhm. And you might not know all the details, but you do know that Jake and your mother have been close friends for a long time."  
"Yeah." "It might be hard for her, seeing sort of a mirror from her past. She's still very close to Jacob now, obviously, but it isn't quite the same anymore. So she's probably just a but jealous that you're better friends with him than she is, considering she's been through so much with him."  
I backed away, dropping my hands, but my father caught them and held them between us. "Oh. God. I guess I didn't... think about that..." This was getting kind of awkward. "So... do you think I should go talk to her?" I asked. "Hmm..." he closed his eyes, thinking. "You can do whatever you think is best, Ness." I creased my brow. "That... didn't really help that much, Dad. Please don't go all fortune cookie on me."  
He laughed. "What I'm trying to say is that you do what your heart tells you to do. You should go talk to her if you're worried. Sort things out." Now it was my turn to laugh. "Dad. Now you're going Disney on me. 'Do what your heart tells you to do?' What?" I quoted him. "I'm sorry." He tousled my hair. "But you really should go talk to her." I smiled up at him. "Thanks, Dad." He kissed my forehead again. "Anytime." He walked out of the room, but looked back over his shoulder at me and smiling before completely leaving. I turned and looked out the window. There was the small but familiar pond, and my mother was sitting by it. I opened the window and hopped outside. Yes, I hopped out of a window. We have big windows in our house, thanks to Esme. I walked over to stand behind Mom. I was sure that she already knew that I was there, but I talked anyway. "...Mom?" She turned around, started. Maybe she hadn't noticed me there after all. "Oh... Hi, Nessie." I sat down next to her. Surprised, I said, "You called me Nessie." She looked over at me, a hint of a smile on her lips, but her eyes still wary and distant. "Yes. It's your name." "I thought you hated my nickname."  
"I don't," she looked at me, her eyes now present. "It's cute and special, just like you." She was smiling. "And it's short, too. Another similarity."  
"Mom," I started to cry again. She pulled me close. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "Oh, don't worry about it." She looked at me, grinning now. "Teens will be teens." "But I'm only six," I smiled. "Almost seven," she corrected me. 


End file.
